Fish
by sedlakova
Summary: a bit of mid-Twilight fluff: Edward’s curiosity about everything Bella is driving her nuts. Ever wondered how she managed to kill three fish?


DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of course.

_**Twilight, Chapter 12: "** _ _**Occasionally he would ask a random question that he hadn't gotten to in the past two days of interrogation."** _

His curiosity was really starting to get on my nerves. Especially now, when I needed my wits about me so as not to trip over a tree root and fall on my butt. But Edward's melodious voice always threw me, and was more dangerous than any plant root.

* * *

"Tell me about your pets." His voice startled me out of the trance I'd been in since he last spoke.

"What?"

"Your pets. I want to know about every pet you ever had."

I tried to concentrate. "Not many. Well, there was a turtle. I was around 8, I think. Renee thought a turtle would be low-maintenance enough, even for me."

"His name?"

"Her name, actually. Shirley. I remember I liked the "er" sound repeating. Shirley Turtle. Like it was her last name. Anyway, it turned out that turtles are actually quite hard to care for. We didn't have anything like proper filters, special lights, and stuff. Shirley died after only a couple of months."

"And how did you take it?" he asked, lips curving in a small smile.

I didn't quite know how to respond to that. "Okay, I guess. I was already pretty used to Renee's short attention span, so it didn't bother me too much. We buried her in our backyard."

"Under the cactus?"

"Shut up." Very nice, Bella.

He laughed, but instead of calming me, or making me dizzy, it made me defensive. "Don't laugh at me. Why on earth do you want to know about this stuff?"

"Bella, after the past couple of days, you still haven't idea how endlessly fascinating you are to me?"

I harrumphed. "That's only because you can't read my mind." Turning my eyes away from him and his stupid beautifully rippling back, heading further into the forest, I promptly slipped on something moss-covered. At least I fell forward, and was able to put out my hands to break my fall. Unfortunately, it meant that my hands were now coated in the slimy mossy gunk. No blood, though, so that was a plus.

After checking both my hands and assuring himself that I was, in fact, okay, he opened his mouth to speak. I quickly shook my head. "Stop asking me questions. I can't answer you and walk at the same time."

"Okay, no more questions." He agreed a little too quickly, as he turned to continue our 'hike,' and I became suspicious.

"What?"

"Well, technically, I don't know if you've fully answered my last question. Was Shirley your one and only attempt to have a pet?"

I gritted my teeth. He was infuriating! "Fine. I had three fish. They all died. I gave up on pets. The end. Happy now?"

His bark of laughter was maddening. "Details, Bella, please, or else you shall have to deal with me!" He turned towards me and bared his teeth in a goofy snarl, and I couldn't help but giggle. It was nice to see him so carefree, and if stupid stories about me brought that out of him, I'd willingly supply, no matter how embarrassed I was, or how many times I fell.

I took a deep breath. "School fair. Fifth grade. There was a game where you paid a dollar, and got three ping-pong balls to throw. On the shelves, which were like stairs, there were all these glass bowls. Some had fish in them, some not. So anyway, if you got one of the balls in a bowl with the fish, you won the fish."

"And you, my dexterously challenged Bella, managed to get the ball in? Why do I find that hard to believe?" His voice rumbled, turning me to mush. And of course, the fact that he was right was maddening.

"It was Felipe," I mumbled, but of course he caught it.

"Who's Felipe?" Did I detect a note of jealousy there, or was that just wishful thinking? I so desperately wanted to see his face, but knew that the second I did, I'd hurt myself. Better to look at him while standing still.

"A boy from my grade. I think he had a crush on me," I muttered, embarrassed.

"And you accuse me of dazzling people," he replied sarcastically, and I thanked whatever gods there were that he didn't turn around and dazzle _me_ .

"So my fish…" I started, hoping he'd drop it.

"Yes, the fabulous fish from Felipe," he quipped, amused to no end.

"I named him Curly, like the Three Stooges. But I thought he'd be lonely, and maybe that's what Shirley had died of. So mom took me to the pet store, and we picked out two more goldfish."

"Larry and Moe, of course."

"Of course," I continued. "They were more orangey, whereas Curly was almost white, almost luminescent." I felt my cheeks flush, thinking of his alabaster skin, and was once more grateful that he didn't have eyes in the back of his head. "So one day I came home from school, after maybe a month or so, and Moe was floating, but it looked like he was half-eaten. I had no idea what had happened. Until a few weeks later, and this time it was Larry floating. And Curly had a piece of his tail…" I paused dramatically, "… in his mouth!"

"Curly ate the other fish?" He gasped in horror.

"Well, it turns out that they had some funny fish parasite, called ick. So they died, and Curly ate them after. And then he got the parasite and died. It was all very traumatizing. So Renee and I decided not to get any more pets."

"Fascinating."

"Freak."

* * *

A/N: I know, short and silly, but I would love to have read all the questions Edward had for Bella in the beginning.


End file.
